The teen activists of the URJ Kutz Camp, who participated in Alison Stamm’s Political Advocacy minor last week, created these slideshows as a way to lobby NY State Legislators on the issue of transgender rights. They urged NY State Assemblyman Brabenec & NY State Senator Bonacic to support the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (A.4558-A/Gottfried)(S.61-A/Squadron).

The bill to outlaw discrimination based on gender identity or expression in housing, employment, credit and public accommodations would also expand the state’s hate crimes law to explicitly include crimes against transgender New Yorkers.74% of transgender New Yorkers experienced harassment or mistreatment on the job and roughly 1/3 of transgender New Yorkers have been homeless at one time.

This is a life and death issue and this bill is long overdue. The majority of New Yorkers already support this legislation.

78% of those polled said they want to protect the civil rights of transgender people.

The Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) would bring New York up to speed with the one third of the country that already offers these protections.

As Reform Jews, we fell strongly about this issue because it falls in line with our Jewish values, namely:

Kavod: Respect
Judaism teaches us to treat ourselves and others with respect; even the stranger is to be treated with respect. Kavod is a feeling of regard for the rights, dignity, feelings, wishes, and abilities of others. Teasing and name-calling disrespect and hurt everyone, so learn to respect people’s differences.

B’Tzelem Elohim: In God’s Image
The Torah tells us that we are all created “b’Tzelem Elohim”(Bereshit 1:26), in the image of God. This is a simple and profound idea that should guide our interactions with all people. If we see each person as created in the image of God, we can see humanity and dignity in all people. True inclusion is built upon this foundation.

Kol Yisrael Arevim Zeh Bazeh: Communal Responsibility
The Jewish principle that “All Israel is responsible for one another”(Shavuot 39a) means each of us must take action and inspire others to create a community in which we can all take pride.

V’ahavta L’Reiacha Kamocha: “Love your neighbor as yourself”
Commenting on Leviticus 19:18, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” Rabbi Hillel once stated that this was the foundational value of the Torah. It begins with loving ourselves. We must love and accept our whole selves, and in doing so create the capacity for extending that love and acceptance to others.

Your statement regarding the legitimacy of Reform Jews was deplorable and has widespread negative consequences for World Progressive Jewry, a movement of which we are proud to be members, as well as the greater global Jewish community. We are saddened that someone representing our homeland would propagate ideas that we are illegitimate as Jews and unworthy of our own religious beliefs.

We, as the youth leadership of the Reform Movement of North America, condemn your actions and implore you to consider reflecting on your words and the implication of your statements. You are promoting a culture of intolerance.

Together, we as Jews have been a part of history as it has unfolded for our people. Together, we have endured persecution and genocide, and together we celebrated and rejoiced in the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. We are one people and we feel the negative and positive effects of being Jewish, in modernity, together.

Israel is our homeland. Hearing that we would be considered “not Jewish” by a government official, in a place that many of us think of as home, is infuriating. We love and support Israel and we expect to be treated as Jews, no matter where in the world we go.

Israel needs us as much as we need Israel. As the Movement who sent the largest number of teens to Israel this summer and last summer, we go to learn to love the land from a Jewish and Israeli perspective. This includes our deep commitment to the pluralistic nature of all the Jews who live there and who consider it home. We take pride in discovering our Jewish identity through Reform Judaism AND through our connection to Israel.

We as Jews share the same values, wrestle with the same God, and uphold the same faith. As young Reform Jews we look to the future to continue to explore a more tolerant and accepting Israeli society.

As Reform Jews, we are always striving to learn more and to know more and to understand as much as possible. These sources teach about the longstanding history and origins of the Reform Movement in Judaism and the conscious choice of Jews to adhere to the tenants of this Movement:

Last weekend, 150 Jewish teens from across North America came together at URJ Kutz Camp in Warwick, New York, for NFTY’s annual leadership training event, Mechina. During the weekend, representatives from all of NFTY’s 19 regions joined, prayed, and discussed together in preparation for their upcoming years of leadership in their regions.

On Sunday, the leaders came together for the biannual general assembly, Asefah, where the representatives from the 19 regions listened to regional reports and voted on critical legislation. One resolution on the table was a “Resolution Regarding Preferred Gender Pronouns on Nametags” which resolved that “at any NFTY North American event, participants will be given the opportunity to include their preferred pronouns on their nametags, and… are encouraged to introduce themselves with their preferred gender pronouns.” The resolution passed and will help ensure the full inclusion of teens, regardless of their gender identities, during NFTY North American events.

The resolution will be implemented for the first time when general board convenes next winter at the URJ’s Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute (OSRUI) in Wisconsin. In addition, the resolution encouraged the 19 regions of NFTY to adopt similar policies at their own events, as the NFTY leadership hopes that this resolution will resonate in those regions and temples throughout the course of this upcoming year

NFTY is very committed towards working towards equality for people of all genders and sexual orientations and just finished up a year of education and programming specifically focused on the 2014-2015 NFTY action theme, “Shivyon: Gender and Sexuality Equality.” Building on a history of speaking out in favor of gay rights in 1984, passing legislation to support marriage equality in 2003, and unanimously reaffirming this in 2013, the passage of the gender inclusive resolution is an important step in ensuring inclusion for all teens.

Today the United States Supreme Court made clear that the Constitution both allows same sex couples to marry and requires all states to recognize all marriages performed in other states. It is a day many of us long prayed for, but were not sure if we would ever see it happen.

NFTYites at URJ Kutz Camp watching the news coverage together

The North American board of NFTY, representing more than 8,000 Reform Jewish youth across the United States and Canada, applauds today’s decision. Since 2003, NFTY has worked alongside the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC), the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) and other key partners in the fight for marriage equality. We are especially proud of the role that young people played in this campaign. As a North American movement, we now truly stand together. We are ecstatic that our laws finally reflect the freedom and liberty that our society was founded on.

While this is a huge victory, we are reminded of the story of creation in which we learn that all people are created b’tzelem elohim – in God’s image – the fight for true equality is still far from our reach. Law is one thing, and society’s opinions are another. We will continue to work tirelessly to see that this law becomes a reality and that our society is a place where all can live in harmony and peace.

We are reminded once again that our generation has the power to change opinions and society for the better. Love ALWAYS wins.

Two nights ago I had just walked away from a group of fellow staff members to head to bed at the URJ Kutz camp when surprisingly, considering my lack of service in Warwick, a notification popped up on my phone. It was a CNN snippet describing a shooting in Charleston, South Carolina with 9 fatalities. I paused for a second and read it again; shooting in Charleston, South Carolina. A cute, boutique ridden town, swarming with tourists, filled with history, the holy city, and my home town. A shooting in my town. I walked back over to my group of fellow staff members confused and shocked. I explained what had happened, did a little preliminary research, reassured everyone I was fine, scribbled a few sentences in my journal, and exhausted, I crashed on my bed and went to sleep.

The next morning I conducted research. To my disgust this crime was not only violent and cruel, but driven by an obscene hate that is deep seeded in so many minds of the south. This shooting was at a historical black AME church, across the street from my middle school, four blocks from my synagogue, on a street my car has gained many miles driving down.

I didn’t think it would happen to my community, but often what I think, a young, open-minded, reform Jew, is contrary to the status of a southern community filled with many people holding onto old prejudices and racism. I didn’t think it would happen to MY community, but now I understand how too many communities in the United States share this feeling too often.

Wednesday night marked the third nationally recognized act of racism in the Charleston community in this year alone, and I think something is incredibly wrong with that. I find myself challenged each and every day to live in a place I love while being surrounded by ideas I simply cannot tolerate. Racism and hate are wrong, but how can I claim the community that is my own is despicable?

Being a Jew in the South is a challenge in its own right, but being a jew in a community berated by negativity, hostility, and hate should be impossible. Honestly, the current status of Charleston and the perpetuating prejudices of the South leave me feeling empty. Many members of my community contend these acts are isolated incidents, but when something is done over and over even though its is clear it is wrong, it is insanity. I feel pity for the state that can’t seem to move to the 21st century and be a progressive and pluralistic community. Nonetheless, this state is my own. I live in a dichotomy, blessed to have had opportunities from my parents, my friends, my school, my Judaism, and NFTY to stray away from the negatives of Charleston, but am cursed to love a community classified as so.

Gun violence is wrong and racism is wrong, and to me that idea is crystal clear. It is time for me to not exhaust myself figuring out how living in Charleston and being open-minded can work, and it’s time for everyone to pack on to that bandwagon.

This week, NFTY’s network of Social Action Vice Presidents, from around the country and Canada, convened in Washington, D.C. to learn about action, advocacy and education in relationship to the Religious Action Center’s work and the social justice work these teens will undertake in the coming year. It never occurred to anyone that these teens might learn about Gun Violence Prevention one day, and wake up the next to hear about the mass shooting in Charleston, SC at Emanuel AME Church.

These teens were heartbroken to wake up and hear the news that tragedies like Emanuel AME are happening every day. One of the teens even said, “We just learned about preventing this yesterday, and today we have to listen to it happening again. It’s just one more talking point in our campaign, but it’s terrible to have to think that it’s now a story we have to use to prove a point.” Indeed, none of us wish that this had happened and that now it is our responsibility to report it, in an effort to break the cycle of gun violence in our country.

NFTY is taking on Gun Violence Prevention as a social justice campaign this year. Starting tomorrow, regional teen leaders from around North America will gather at URJ Kutz Camp for teen leadership for Mechina. Mechina is a time when all of the NFTY staff, the NFTY North American Board, the teen regional board members, and other teen leaders gather to meet, to learn, and to explore the various aspects of NFTY and their region, and to plan for much of the year ahead. During this weekend, learning about social justice campaigns, and NFTY’s Gun Violence Prevention campaign were already planned, but now are going to have a significant impact on our teens in light of the tragedy that just occurred in Charleston. These teens are acutely aware that a religious institution was attacked, in a community not unlike many of their own, and they know that it is their responsibility to raise awareness on this issue, to try and help prevent future attacks like this from occurring, and to stand together with the faith community in grief and in solidarity.

But for now, we offer our compassion and our prayers for healing. We offer our support to Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim in Charleston, SC and their Rabbis Stephanie Alexander and Andrew Terkel as they work to mobilize the interfaith community in Charleston and to offer support to their own community. And we offer the only solace that we can, at a time like this: That NFTY and its participants are committed to our Gun Violence Prevention Campaign working to educate and advocate for the prevention of these tragedies in the future.

May is a very important month in the NFTY-PAR community, most likely the most important. May is the changing of the guard, the beginning and the end. NFTY-PAR’s first event of the new year, Haggigah/Maccabiah (or Hag/Mac), takes place in May. The event is our new member event in which current eighth graders from around the region are invited and twelfth graders are not. It is the first event without the seniors that graduated at Spring Kallah just one month earlier. The newly installed regional board plans the entire event in about the span of one month, which in and of itself is a spectacular feat.

Hag/Mac is a new beginning. The freshman who had no idea what NFTY was just one year ago are now beginning to make it their home as they become NFTY sophomores. They are applying for Cabinet positions and must now start to step up as knowledgeable leaders. Sophomores feel like the big guy on campus as they become NFTY juniors. They are the people who are most vocal about NFTY, have a large amount of the responsibilities, and some of them may even be on regional board. Juniors begin to reflect on their journeys as they have somehow in the blink of an eye become NFTY seniors. Every event is now the last of its kind. The people we grew with in the region have moved on to college. As the true role models of the region, it is hard to think about that and how everyone now looks at you the way you looked at the seniors at your first event.

The leads us to the eighth graders. The new NFTY freshman. The future. Every year we say goodbye to an absolutely amazing group of people with whom we have shared countless memories. However an often overlooked part of the end of the year is the fact that it signals the beginning. Every year we say hello to an absolutely amazing group of people with whom we will create countless memories. We say hello to eager, albeit nervous, new members. This is why successfully planning and executing the first event of the year in a little over a month is so mind-boggling. The event is the single key to continuing the cycle and making sure the region stays strong, and a group of seven people who have never worked together and most have never worked on an event at all come together to plan it wonderfully. By making intentional choices and planning we are able to consider all types of new members in hopes of creating a warm and welcoming environment for them to feel comfortable in. All done in one month.

However our work does not stop now that Hag/Mac is over. There are still many events to come. But we make sure that we have that welcoming feeling each event. This year we have created an Inclusion Task Force committee on our general board in an attempt to ensure we are doing all that we can to make sure new members feel as included as possible and our events are as accessible as possible.

In a little less than a year the cycle will repeat. Seniors will leave and eighth graders will come. But in the meantime there is a lot of work to be done.

From May 15-17, NFTY-PAR had our first event of the year called Haggigah/Maccabiah, or Hag/Mac. It was open to 8th-11th graders and was at Camp Harlam. This event was my first as a Regional Board member, which means I planned this event with the rest of the NFTY-PAR Regional Board from start to finish, and ran the whole thing. This experience was so fun and amazing, and I loved every minute.

Experiencing this event as a Regional Board member, instead of a participant, was so unique and special. Hag/Mac is my favorite event of the year because it is our new members’ event, and it consists of meeting people and fun programs. The past two Hag/Macs, I experienced as a PARticipant, so this time around as a Regional Board member I felt it was my job to create the amazing experiences I had as a participant for these participants! This requires a lot of ideas, planning, collaborating, and decision making with the rest of the regional board. I found we all worked extremely well together throughout the whole planning process.

It was really cool seeing what the rest of the board and I had planned come to life throughout the weekend. We spent weeks planning and prepping this event, so we could only hope and pray everything goes well and everyone loves it.

The first night of the event, I led my first program with Matt Nussbaum, PAR’s President. I wasn’t so nervous, mostly anxious-excited and hopeful that everything went the way it was planned. Matt and I spent the hour leading up to the program prepping as much as possible. We prepped our group leaders, making sure they knew how and when to execute parts of the program. We got all materials we needed for the program.. We got all participants into groups of even numbers, which was a little challenging! Finally it was time to do the program. We gave participants instructions, sent the group leaders off with their groups, and started the program. I stood in the front of the room, watching Matt and my program that we had planned for weeks play out in front of my eyes. It was a surreal experience, and I found that I liked program-leading more than participating, because I loved the feeling of giving people a fun experience more than the experiencing it myself.

Mid-program, Matt and I had a participant approach us and say that they loved the program, and thought it was going extremely well. They made a few more comments about how many people they’ve met through the program and how fun it was, and then they went back to their group. That really solidified it all for me. The reality was I could only control so much of what happened during this program, but I couldn’t control how participants felt, and this PARticipant really confirmed the part I couldn’t control.

I absolutely loved my experience of being a Regional Board member at this event and I can’t wait to continue this term with my board and this great region!